


soon i'll be sixty years old

by murkywhale



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Songfic, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:40:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24445969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murkywhale/pseuds/murkywhale
Summary: Rex is four standard years old, and the window where the sound muffling is just a little off, not enough for the longnecks to notice and send a droid to fix it, but enough to hear the rain outside is the most peaceful place in Tipoca.
Kudos: 10





	soon i'll be sixty years old

**Author's Note:**

> Mando'a translations in hover text and in end notes.
> 
> i wanted to draw a lyric piece, but i knew i would never get through it, so here we are.

_ Once I was seven years old, _

Rex is four standard years old, and the window where the sound muffling is just a little off, not enough for the longnecks to notice and send a droid to fix it, but enough to hear the rain outside is the most peaceful place in Tipoca. 

_ My momma told me, _

The ocean whispers to him, and the rain, and sometimes he wishes that he could touch the sea, because he knows it has better advice than some of the scientists. Even if it’s advice is to stay away from it. 

_ Go make yourself some friends or you'll be lonely, _

His brothers are quiet and loud depending on the situation, and sometimes they get in trouble but they always have each other’s backs. Rex thinks he’ll never love anyone like he loves his brothers. 

_ Once I was seven years old. _

Rex is the top of his batch, he’s fast and strong and he’s got a head for tactics. The instructor mutters that it’s a shame he’s not a CC under her breath, and Rex knows he wasn’t meant to hear it, but he preens for a week. 

_ It was a big big world, but we thought we were bigger, _

His batch looks to him to lead, in sims, and he didn’t know what to do with it at first, but now he knows that he feels strongest with his batchmates at his back, knows they trust him to make the right call, and he smiles when his brothers clap him on the back after a successful run.

_ Pushing each other to the limits, we were learning quicker, _

Sparring with the other batches is Rex’s favourite part of his third training year. He meets Cody through them and is surprised by how much more the ori'vod knows about battle tactics and command. He pushes himself so he’ll be better for the next time they meet, keeps an eye out for Cody’s scores on the range and the sims, and starts climbing his way up to them.

_ By eleven smoking herb and drinking burning liquor, _

They are taught about battlefield stims and what to expect from them, and then they go a week on them and limited field rations. Rex barely sleeps an hour that entire week, and he hates it, but he knows in the back of his mind that one day he’ll need that knowledge and experience. 

_ Never rich so we were out to make that steady figure, _

Rex doesn’t question the facts of their life too much. It’s all he’s ever known. He knows the Kaminoans aren’t nice, and that he’d trust any of his brothers before them, and he knows that one day he and his vode are going to fight beside Jedi. 

_ Once I was eleven years old my daddy told me, _

He doesn’t like the new trainer. He’s too sharp with his brothers, too harsh for actual learning, he thinks. He doesn’t tell the Kaminoans. He just pushes his brothers up and helps where he can. 

_ Go get yourself a wife or you'll be lonely. _

He doesn’t understand how some of the older vode get stupid over some of the trainers. It’s weird and he doesn’t get it.

_ Once I was eleven years old. _

A few of Cody’s CC brothers teach him the battle styles and tactics that he’s been dying to learn since he heard about them. Gree grins at how quickly he picks things up, and laughs at Bacara’s surprise and how his eyebrows were making a break for his hairline. 

_ I always had that dream like my daddy before me, _

Rex has never spoken to Jango Fett. He’s seen him a few times, around the city. He knows he’s an incredible fighter and tactical mind, but that’s really it. But he sees how Cody’s face darkens when he’s brought up, and he makes the decision to stop speculating about him. 

_ So I started writing songs, I started writing stories, _

His brothers are the best storytellers. Sometimes it’s just something short that happened to them, but sometimes they can create galaxies in words, shared only between themselves. 

_ Something about that glory just always seemed to bore me, _

The first time he beats Cody’s dual blaster score is a day of celebration, even if it’s only in his head. 

_ 'Cause only those I really love will ever really know me. _

He can’t cover for his brothers when they’re not up for what the trainers are going to put them through that day, another downside of cosmetic mutation, but he can help those who are standing in be even more convincing. 

_ Once I was twenty years old, my story got told, _

Geonosis is exhilarating and terrifying all at once. Rex didn’t get to see the first Jedi that visited Kamino, so General Yoda is the first one he sees. And barely that, he only catches glances of him as they load up. They hover over an arena, Jedi corpses littering the ground, the sand dry with cauterized wounds. He fights, truly fights, for the first time in his life, brothers dropping like flies alongside him. He doesn’t stop to think about it. He can’t. 

_ Before the morning sun, when life was lonely. _

Rex earns jaig eyes at the cost of his batch. He has never been alone before, and he doesn’t know how to do it now. 

_ Once I was twenty years old. _

He stands tall as he’s promoted to Captain of Torrent Company, the last man standing from batch CT-75.

_ I only see my goals, I don't believe in failure. _

He pours himself into becoming the best he can be, so he can lose as few brothers as possible. It doesn’t work, and eventually he comes to terms with the fact that it’s out of his hands. 

_ 'Cause I know the smallest voices, they can make it major, _

Rex knows better than to discount the shinies on Rishi. His brothers may not have the experience he does, but they’re still vode. 

_ I got my boys with me at least those in favor, _

Rex is in charge of who gets transferred into Torrent when they lose brothers, he knows the name of every vod in the company. He wishes he could remember the name of every brother in the 501st, but it’s impossible odds in a war. 

_ And if we don't meet before I leave, I hope I'll see you later. _

He can’t mourn every brother, can’t afford to compromise himself like that. But one day, he thinks, he’ll be able to. After the war. After the war.

_ Once I was twenty years old, my story got told, _

They return to Geonosis, like they didn’t get enough of the dustball on the first round. The campaign is all-encompassing and nearly ends as soon as it starts. The General and the Commander throw him off a wall and he snaps at them a little bit, muttering under his breath about the ridiculousness of Jedi. The Commander grins at him, fangs and all, overhearing his snark. 

_ I was writing about everything, I saw before me _

His mission reports are clean and concise, always the first thing he does after cleaning his kit. He knows that the General hasn’t sent anyone for reconditioning, knows by now he wouldn’t, but he keeps the honest mistakes of his brothers out of his reports. 

_ Once I was twenty years old. _

The war ends with a conspiracy and a crashed cruiser. 

_ Soon we'll be thirty years old, our songs have been sold, _

They run, they hide, they steal, both of them marked for death if recognized. Ahsoka teaches him the tricks of the galaxy’s underworld, how to stay just out of sight, how to trick people who’ve recognized you. How to not get recognized in the first place.

_ We've traveled around the world and we're still roaming, _

They find Gregor on a dust moon and Rex finds it a bit unbelievable that he’s the first vod he’s seen since Mandalore. 

_ Soon we'll be thirty years old. _

Wolffe can’t stand to be around Ahsoka, and she, not wanting to hurt him or separate Rex from his brothers, leaves for the stars. 

_ I'm still learning about life, _

There’s a certain peace to his life now, one he thinks he’ll never get used to. It’s stories and remembering brothers lost and joopas.

_ My woman brought children for me, _

Ahsoka sends a rag-tag aliit to bring him into the fold of the rebellion, and he nearly doesn’t recognize her when he does see her again. 

_ So I can sing them all my songs, _

He gives the Jedi kid his helmet as they face down the Empire’s walkers, and it’s too easy to look at him and see Ahsoka just touched down on Christophsis, snarking at his recently-promoted General. 

_ And I can tell them stories. _

Ezra and Sabine tag-team him with questions as they go through hyperspace. He’s spent years trading tales with Gregor and Wolffe, and it’s nice to have fresh ears.

_ Most of my boys are with me, _

Rex isn’t the only clone in the rebellion. They’re all grey- and white-haired old men now, but they’re still fighters, their minds are still sharp and their fires still burning. 

_ Some are still out seeking glory, _

He’s seen a few in the bounty hunting gig too, now. Their forced retirement caused a lot of chaos at first, but they’ve seemed to settle into the galaxy, even if it doesn’t recognize them. 

_ And some I had to leave behind, _

Rex has never wished his brothers death, and he never wishes for them to die, but now when he thinks of Cody, and the chance he’s still in the Empire’s war machine, he thinks it would be easier if he knew his ori'vod was dead. 

_ My brother I'm still sorry. _

Sometimes he catches himself tracing Galactic Roundels on the nearest surface, and the guilt that surges still catches him off guard. 

_ Soon I'll be sixty years old, my daddy got sixty-one, _

He feels the age begin to catch up to him, the Kaminoans’ curse degrading his joints and making him creak.

_ Remember life and then your life becomes a better one. _

Ahsoka dies on Malachor, where he could not go. 

_ I made a man so happy when I wrote a letter once, _

He comms Gregor and Wolffe when he can, does his best to keep up with the brothers he knows. They’re spread thin now, and there’s so few of them left. 

_ I hope my children come and visit, once or twice a month. _

So many of the Rebels are kids. He grits his teeth against the bitter taste of child soldiers yet again, smiles through the horror of so much life lost before it could even grow up. There’s nothing fair about war, and Rex has known this for far too long. 

_ Soon I'll be sixty years old, will I think the world is cold, _

The more he learns about the Empire, the more disgusted he gets. It’s hard to imagine, to be more disgusted with the Emperor, after what he knows he did, but the Empire itself is easy. It’s full of people he was trained to protect, and yet they can commit such atrocities. 

_ Or will I have a lot of children who can warm me. _

He sees his General’s tactics in the Alderaanian princess. 

_ Soon I'll be sixty years old, _

The Rebellion starts planning for the end of the war against the Empire, but Rex finds he can’t. His war has never ended, only hidden itself away, so how can he expect it to end with the Empire?

_ Soon I'll be sixty years old, will I think the world is cold, _

He joins the ground team on Endor. He’s hopeful, against all odds, as the Emperor has survived a full team of Jedi trying to kill him, he doesn’t know what one will do. But the kid carries his General’s name, and Rex is hopeful. 

_ Or will I have a lot of children who can warm me. _

Luke Skywalker defeats the Sith. 

_ Soon I'll be sixty years old. _

He’s never seen celebration on the level that the galaxy exhibits upon the death of the Emperor. 

_ Once I was seven years old, momma told me, _

He still remembers the peace of the faulty window on Kamino, but it pales in comparison to the knowledge that the Emperor is dead. 

_ Go make yourself some friends or you'll be lonely. _

Ahsoka makes her way back from the dead and he thinks he has never seen something more incredible. His kyrbe'vod smiles at him yet again. 

_ Once I was seven years old, _

He’s never really mourned the accelerated aging before. It’s always just been a fact of his life. But now he wishes he could stick around longer, see what the galaxy becomes. 

_ Once I was seven years old. _

**Author's Note:**

> ori'vod: older sibling  
> vod: sibling  
> vode: siblings  
> aliit: clan  
> kyrbe’vod: shield-sister/brother, lit. battlefield-sibling


End file.
